Hoisting device



Feb. 3, 1953 R. R. CROOKSTON ET AL 2,627,391

HOISTING DEVICE Filed July 1, 1950 II osnmcx SAND LINE 23 on'nw-wonxs I4 ROTARY O 2, PEEP SIGHT I7 I 2O SAND REEL I6 220 jllfll 18 15 u I I3 I t I I INVENTORS.

Robert R. Crooksfon, 2 BY Walter L. Chappell',

W4 Qmh A TTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 3, 953

HOISTING DEVICE Robert R. Crookston and Walter L. Chappell, Houston, Tex., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Standard Oil Development Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application July 1, 1950, Serial No. 171,604

4 Claims. 1

The present invention is directed to a hoistin device adapted for use in a derrick and particularly a derrick employed in drilling boreholes in the earths surface. The invention is directed to a hoisting device employed in coring and running instruments in a borehole.

- The present invention embodies a hoisting device including a drum provided with flanges and having a base member and housing therefor. The drum is adapted to receive and spool a length of cable that is wound thereon and which has a free end defining a bight. Mounted on the base member are power means for actuating the drum and mounted on the housing is a sighting means, such as a swiveled barrel peep sight for aligning a fixed point, such as one of. the flanges of the drum, with a sheave in an upper section of the derrick over which the bight of the cable is arranged.

The invention will be further illustrated by reference to the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device of the present invention showing its arrangement in a derrick;

Fig. 2 is a view looking downward on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an arrangement of a hoisting drum with respect to a sheave through which rope from the drum is to pass; and,

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the sheave and drum in a different relationship.

Referring now to the drawings wherein identical numerals identify identical parts, numeral l I designates the conventional derrick provided with a crown block [2 and a rotary table l3. Arranged adjacent and on the derrick floor is a conventional draw works M. In the upper section of the derrick l l is a sheave l5. Adjacent to the derrick is an auxiliary hoisting device Hi including a drum [1 having flanges IS. The drum may be enclosed in housing l9 and is provided with a power means, such as steam engine 20. Arranged on the housing is a swiveled barrel peep sight 2| which is pivotally mounted on the housing l9 so that it may be moved in a vertical plane. The auxiliary hoisting means I6 is mounted on a base plate or member 22 which allows it to be moved from place to place. Member 22 may suitably be mounted on skids 22a for ease of moving or, to insure greater portability for the device of our invention, the base plate 22 may be mounted on or made an integral part of a truck bed which will allow the apparatus to be moved up to a well and positioned as desired. Wound on drum I! is a cable or wire line 23, a free end of which forms a bight portion 24 which is arranged over sheave l5. It will be noted by reference to Fig. 2 that one of the flanges l8 lies in a plane that includes a plane of the sheave l5 and that the sighting means 2| is lined up with one of the flanges l8 and is in the plane with the sheave IS.

The present invention is employed in the following manner: Hoisting devices such as sand reels, as indicated by unit 3, are moved at least once with each rig move and frequently are moved around like casual furniture regardless of their size. Since the fleet angle of the cable 23 with the sheave l5 together with the helix angle of the first layer of wire rope wound on drum l1 determines to a large extent the position of the hoist l6, it is important that the sheave I5 and the hoist l6 and particularly the drum ll be in alignment with the sheave 15 so that the fleet angle and the helix angle do not exceed a figure which allows proper functioning of the cable 23 without scrubbing of the lines or wire rope turns on the drum against each other and against the sheave l5. A complete discussion of the importance of the fleet and helix angles will be found in the Roebling Handbook, copyright 1947 by John A. Roeblings Sons Company, Trenton 2, New Jersey. The present invention allows the fleet angle and the helix angle to be set properly by lining up a fixed point on the drum H, such as one of the flanges l8, with the sheave 15 by means of a sighting device mounted on the hoisting apparatus. It is possible to locate the hoisting device with minimum delay and yet insure obtaining the proper fleet and helix angle for proper functioning of the apparatus by sighting through the device 2| which is pivotally mounted in a vertical plane on the apparatus It. The operator can determine with a quick glance if the apparatus is located properly with respect to the sheave l5 considering the distance between the sheave l5 and the drum I1. If the device is not in proper alignment with respect to a fixed point on the drum H, such as one of the flanges l8, it is easy to move it to the right or left, as the case may be, and to locate it properly. Heretofore it has been the practice, as set out in the Roebling Handbook, to adjust the sheave rather than the hoisting device. Since the latter is not practicable for oil well derricks and the like, it will be seen that the present invention, including the hoisting device having a drum with a sighting means mounted thereon, allows the hoisting device to be readily aligned with the sheave to insure proper functioning of the cable or wire line 23.

While the present invention has been described and illustrated by reference to aligning one of the flanges IS with the sheave I5 and having the peep sight 2! aligned therewith, it is possible to have the peep sight 2| mounted at another point. The manner in which the hoisting drum should be aligned with the sheave will be further explained with reference to Figs. 3 and 4 with Fig. 4 showing the proper relation between the sheave and the hoisting drum. In these figures the sheave l5 and hoisting drum I'F correspond to like parts in Figs. 1 and 2. The center of the drum shaft is 25 and line 26 is normal to shaft 25 and passes through sheave 15.

For the purpose of discussion, it will be assumed that in Figs. 3 and 4 the drum is winding down in front and will start winding from the left side as viewed from the sheave. In Fig. 3, a and B are the fleet angles. It is impossible to maintain equal fleet angles in View of the helix angle because to do so would make the Wire pile up on one end and spread out on the other end of the drum, the end defects depending on whether 18 is too large or too small. The tendency to spread may be controlled by grooving the drum on which the wire line is spooled or by other means, such as manually, which urge the wraps of wire line together. Instead of placing the hoisting drum as in Fig. 3, it should be shifted to the position shown in Fig. 4. Thus, ,8 is actually 8'y and a is n+7. The angle 7 is the helix angle or the effective helix angle of the wire rope or cable wound on the drum as the first layer. in Fig. 4, line 26 drawn normal to the drum shaft 25 through sheave iii no longer bisects the hoisting drum and the drum level winds satisfactorily without causing the rope to scrub. Actually, with the sand reels for drilling rigs the helix angles and nominal fleet angle are such that the sand reel is placed properly when the flange of the drum where the first reversal of the wire rope occurs is aligned with the sheave on the derrick such that the angle ,8 approaches or equals zero in its extreme. This flange is opposite the starting point of the wire rope on the drum. Thus the peep sight 2i may be mounted on the housing for aligning the flange opposite the starting point of the wire rope Wound on the drum with the sheave in the upper section of the derrick as shown in the drawing.

The peep sight it may be a simple barrel member to allow the operator to sight therethrough or it may be provided with an optical means, such as a telescopic arrangement, for accurately positioning the device is with respect to the sheave i5. Regardless of the form that the sighting means 2| takes, it may be pivotally mounted on the hoisting device to allow '4 the operator to ascertain the proper position of the hoisting device it including the drum H with respect to the sheave I5.

The nature and objects of the present invention having been completely described and illustrated, what we wish to claim as new and useful and to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A hoisting device adapted for use in a derrick which comprises, in combination, a drum provided with flanges and having a base member and housing therefor adapted to receive and spool a length of cable thereon and a sighting means mounted on said housing for aligning a flange on said drum opposite the starting point of the cable spooled on said drum with a sheave in an upper section of the derrick over which a bight of said cable is arranged.

2. A hoisting device adapted for use in derrick which comprises, in combination, a drum provided with flanges and having a base member and housing therefor adapted to receive and spool a length of cable thereon, a cable wound on said drum having a free end defining a bight, power means mounted on said base member for actuating said drum, and a sighting means mounted on said housing for aiigning a flange opposite the starting point of the cable spooled on said drum with a sheave in an upper section of the derrick over which the bight of said cable is arranged.

3. A hoisting device adapted for use in a derrick which comprises, in combination, a drum provided with flanges and having a base memher and housing therefor adapted to receive and spool a length of cable thereon, a cable wound on said drum having a free end defining a bight, power means mounted on said base member for actuating said drum, and a sighting means pivotaliy mounted in a vertical plane on said housing for aligning a flange opposite the starting point of the cable spooled on said drum with a sheave in an upper section of the derrick over which the bight of said cable is arranged.

4. A device in accordance with claim 3 in which the sighting means is a swiveled barrel peep sight.

ROBERT R. CROOKS-TON. WALTER L. CHAPPELL.

REFERENCES CKTED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,660,271 Miller Feb. 21, 1928 2,497,933 Devers Feb. 21, 1950 2,536,483 Young Jan. 2, 1951 

